The Relative Importance of Warm Rain and Melting Processes in Freezing Precipitation Events
Open Access
- 1 July 2000
- journal article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
- Vol. 39 (7) , 1185-1195
- https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(2000)039<1185:triowr>2.0.co;2
Abstract
The importance of warm rain and melting processes in freezing precipitation events is investigated by analyzing 972 rawinsonde soundings taken during freezing precipitation. The soundings cover regions of the United States east of the Rocky Mountain states for the period 1970–94. The warm rain process was found to be unambiguously responsible for freezing precipitation in 47% of the soundings. In these soundings, the clouds had temperatures entirely below freezing, or had top temperatures that were above freezing. Another 28% of the soundings had cloud top temperatures between 0° and −10°C. Clouds with top temperatures >−10°C also can support an active warm rain process. Considered together, the warm rain process was potentially important in about 75% of the freezing precipitation soundings. This estimate is significantly higher than the estimate of 30% in a previous study by Huffman and Norman. The temperature, moisture, and wind profiles of the soundings, their geographic distribution, and the ... Abstract The importance of warm rain and melting processes in freezing precipitation events is investigated by analyzing 972 rawinsonde soundings taken during freezing precipitation. The soundings cover regions of the United States east of the Rocky Mountain states for the period 1970–94. The warm rain process was found to be unambiguously responsible for freezing precipitation in 47% of the soundings. In these soundings, the clouds had temperatures entirely below freezing, or had top temperatures that were above freezing. Another 28% of the soundings had cloud top temperatures between 0° and −10°C. Clouds with top temperatures >−10°C also can support an active warm rain process. Considered together, the warm rain process was potentially important in about 75% of the freezing precipitation soundings. This estimate is significantly higher than the estimate of 30% in a previous study by Huffman and Norman. The temperature, moisture, and wind profiles of the soundings, their geographic distribution, and the ...Keywords
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